Nero

Nero

(Nero Claudius Caesar) (nēr`ō), A.D. 37–A.D. 68, Roman emperor (A.D. 54–A.D. 68). He was originally named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and was the son of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul in A.D. 32) and of Agrippina the YoungerAgrippina the Younger,d. A.D. 59, Roman matron; daughter of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. By her first husband, Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of Nero......Click the link for more information., who was the great-granddaughter of Augustus. Agrippina married (A.D. 49) Claudius IClaudius I(Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus) , 10 B.C.–A.D. 54, Roman emperor (A.D. 41–A.D. 54), son of Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and thus nephew of Tiberius. When Caligula was murdered (A.D......Click the link for more information. and persuaded him to adopt Nero. In A.D. 55, Agrippina saw the bonds of her domination of Nero loosening and intrigued in favor of Claudius' son, Britannicus, but Nero poisoned the boy. Poppaea SabinaPoppaea Sabina, d. A.D. 65, Roman empress, wife of Nero. While married to Otho, her second husband, she became mistress of Nero, whom she finally married in A.D. 62. She had great influence over Nero, inducing him to have his mother (Agrippina the Younger), his former wife.....Click the link for more information., the wife of his friend OthoOtho, Marcus Salvius, A.D. 32–A.D. 69, Roman emperor (Jan.–April, A.D. 69). He was a friend of Nero, and his wife, Poppaea Sabina, became Nero's mistress; Otho was repaid (A.D. 58) with the province of Lusitania. In A.D......Click the link for more information., became his mistress; according to rumor she was to blame for the worst of Nero's behavior. In A.D. 59 he murdered his mother and in A.D. 62, his wife Octavia. He later married Poppaea. When half of Rome was burned in a fire (A.D. 64), Nero accused the Christians of starting it and began the first Roman persecution. In A.D. 65 there was a plot to make Caius Calpurnius Piso emperor. The detection of this plot began a string of violent deaths, e.g., of Seneca, Lucan, and Thrasea Paetus. Nero had ambitions to be a poet and artist. In A.D. 68 a series of revolts, including one by his own Praetorian Guard, caused him to commit suicide. Among his last words were, "What an artist the world is losing in me!" His memory was publicly execrated.

Bibliography

See biography by M. Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty (1985).

Nero

In the first years of his reign Nero ruled in concert with the Senate and was guided by Burrus, prefect of the praetorian guard, and by the philosopher Seneca. Later he instituted a policy of repressions and confiscations, which angered not only the senatorial elite (Piso’s conspiracy of A.D. 65) but other strata as well. Among Nero’s victims were his closest relatives, including his mother, and many such prominent people as Seneca, the poet Lucan, and the writer Petronius. In 68 the provincial governors Vindex and Galba rebelled against Nero. Abandoned even by the praetorians, Nero fled Rome and en route committed suicide. Historical sources portray Nero as narcissistic, cruel, and debauched, more engrossed in his “artistic” pursuits than in affairs of state, which he entrusted to his freedmen and court favorites.

Nero

(also Lake Rostov), a lake in Yaroslavl Oblast, RSFSR. It has an area of 54.4 sq km, a length of approximately 13 km, and a width of up to 8 km. Its depth averages 1–1.3 m; the maximum depth is 3.6 m. The bottom is covered with a thick layer of sapropel. Lake Nero is fed mainly by snow. The water level fluctuates by 3.2 m, with the highest levels occurring in April and May, and the lowest in October. The lake freezes in late October or in November; the ice breaks up in April. A total of 18 tributaries empty into the lake, the largest being the Sara River. Flow from Lake Nero is regulated by a dam with a sluice at the source of the Kotorosl’ River (a tributary of the Volga). There is local navigation on the lake and fishing for European bream, perch (Perca fluviatilis), and pike. The city of Rostov (Iaroslavskii) is on Lake Nero.

Nero

Nero

full name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus; original name Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. 37--68 ad, Roman emperor (54--68). He became notorious for his despotism and cruelty, and was alleged to have started the fire (64) that destroyed a large part of Rome

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